Updated 8:35 pm, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Chimneys mansion in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport photographed in 2007. In a 17-page decision issued Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Kari Dooley ruled that the city of Bridgeport doesn’t owe Randall Green, who took over Hochman’s magnificent mansion The Chimneys, after Hochman defaulted on a debt to him, the more than $200,000 it got for selling off Hochman’s treasure trove of personal items.
Photo: Ned Gerard

A matching pair of chairs that were part of hundreds of items from The Chimneys property in Bridgeport that were sold at an auction at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford in November 2006. In a 17-page decision issued Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Kari Dooley ruled that the city of Bridgeport doesn’t owe Randall Green, who took over Hochman’s magnificent mansion The Chimneys, after Hochman defaulted on a debt to him, the more than $200,000 it got for selling off Hochman’s treasure trove of personal items.
Photo: File Photo

A matching pair of chairs that were part of hundreds of items from...

Ken Fitts of Stamford admires a Stickley grandfather clock valued at over $60 thousand dollars, one of the hundreds of items from The Chimneys property in Bridgeport that were sold at an auction at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford in November 2006.In a 17-page decision issued Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Kari Dooley ruled that the city of Bridgeport doesn’t owe Randall Green, who took over Hochman’s magnificent mansion The Chimneys, after Hochman defaulted on a debt to him, the more than $200,000 it got for selling off Hochman’s treasure trove of personal items.
Photo: File Photo

In a 17-page decision issued Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Kari Dooley appears to have finally laid to rest the riches to rags story of once fabulously wealthy developer Aaron Hochman, whose misfortunes and subsequent disappearance is now part of city legend.

Dooley ruled that the city doesn't owe Randall Green -- who took over Hochman's magnificent mansion, The Chimneys, after Hochman defaulted on a debt to him -- the more than $200,000 it got for selling off Hochman's treasure trove of personal items.

In what may be a grand irony, Green recently lost the Chimneys to foreclosure and now it is owned by a Minnesota bank.

"The final chapter in the book of Hochman has been written," said Associate City Attorney Russell Liskov. "His possessions have been liquidated and now a judge has ruled Mr. Green is not entitled to any funds from the city."

Green's lawyers did not return calls for comment.

In the early 2000s, Hochman lived a lavish lifestyle in the biggest and most expensive house in Bridgeport, a huge 11-bedroom, brick mansion facing Long Island Sound on Old Battery Road. Hired to redevelop the Army Engine site in Stratford, he hob-knobbed with governors and politicians and surrounded himself with luxury that included a fleet of vintage automobiles, antique furniture, furs and more than 100 pairs of shoes.

But it all came tumbling down in 2005. He was evicted from the Chimneys in September 2005 and then simply walked away.

Under state law it became the responsibility of the city to cart away Hochman's belongings.

City officials handle hundreds of evictions every year. Once an eviction occurs the city is responsible for picking up possessions left by those evicted on the curb and usually that involves an old TV set and a few broken chairs. But when officials walked into the Chimneys they were overwhelmed.

Every room in the 15,000-square-foot mansion was filled with furniture and personal items including an array of men's and women's clothing of various sizes; tens of thousands of books; fur coats; art work and hundreds of pairs of shoes. There were two huge safes filled with a collection of firearms and weaponry and in the garages were a 1977 Rolls Royce and three Mercedes Benzes.

It took 24 workers five days and 554 man hours to empty the mansion and 23 truckloads were taken to various storage locations around the state.

When Hochman did not appear to claim his possessions the city got stuck with the $217,000 moving and storage bill.

In an effort to recoup the money, Liskov auctioned off the luxury cars, artwork and some of the antique furniture, but they still came up short. To make up the rest, Liskov hosted a huge tag sale in December 2006 in a vacant terminal at Sikorsky Memorial Airport, advertising it as "A little Hochman for the holidays."

The proceeds from the sales just about covered the storage costs.

Green, a major creditor of Hochman who took over the Chimneys, subsequently sued the city claiming he was entitled to the money from the auction and tag sales to pay off what Hochman still owed him on the house. He claimed the city violated state law by waiting too long before it held the sales.

Meanwhile, the Chimneys remains for sale, asking price $4.5 million.

Contact Daniel Tepfer at 203-330-6308 or dtepfer@ctpost.com. Follow him on twitter.com/dantepfer